


The World but Smaller

by EdgarAllanCat



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Age Play, Daddy Kink, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 02:55:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11244861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgarAllanCat/pseuds/EdgarAllanCat
Summary: When Eliot is stressed out Penny has to bring him down to little space to calm him down.Alternate ending included**Un-Beta’d





	1. Chapter 1

                “Are you okay?”

                “Are you?”

                Penny and Eliot just looked at each other because it was clear that absolutely nothing was okay. Neither of them neither to say anything because the answer was so glaring obvious. Eliot was clearly stressed, and who wouldn’t be in his situation? Magic was failing, his kingdom was being run into the ground, and he was getting absolutely no time for breaks. Penny would’ve been a lot more worried if Eliot wasn’t stressed and was handling everything just fine. He knew exactly what he had to do, the only problem was getting Eliot to go along with it. Penny paused for just a second before deciding on a course of action. “Okay…right. In that case you’ve got an hour. I’m gonna run get some shit and you be ready to take a break.” It worked best not to ask Eliot, but to tell him exactly what was going to happen and not give him leeway to argue.

                Shaking his head, Eliot took a step away. “I really don’t have the time to play and entertain you right now—“

                “Make time,” Penny told him. “You’ve got an hour, figure something out.” He reached out, gently brushing back Eliot’s curls and lowering his voice. “You’re going to run yourself into an early grave. Let somebody, ya know, help.” He wasn’t going to push him too hard, not yet, not before Eliot slipped into the proper headspace. Gentle coaxing was what he needed right then and Penny was more than willing to take things slow.

                Clearing his throat Eliot seemed like he might say something, but instead he pressed his head against Penny’s hand and gave a small nod. “An hour…you can try.”

~*~

                Penny showed back up about ten minutes early, because being late would’ve been worse. He had a backpack full of things from Brakebills slung over his shoulder and was masking an expression of concern. He’d never seen Eliot get quite this bad before. Sure, Eliot had gotten stressed out plenty of times and Penny had to take him in hand and guide him back to the world, but he had never suffered quite like this. He had never had this many responsibilities. Hell, he was only twenty-four, no one at that age could run a kingdom without some stress.

                With time to spare Penny made his way into the bathroom to get things set up. It was so much nicer than the bathroom at Brakebills and they wouldn’t have to worry about any unpleasant interruptions. They had complete privacy from the world here, which was exactly what they needed. The tub was much larger than the one they were used to and Eliot would probably be able to stretch his legs out and not be cramped and uncomfortable. He filled the bath, adding enough bubbles to cover the top of the water, and checked the temperature. The last thing he wanted was to scald or freeze Eliot while he was trying to relax him.

                Drying off his hands Penny went back to the bedroom and expected to fin Eliot there. The room was still silent and empty and Penny felt his heart skip a beat. If Eliot didn’t show up then he’d be in trouble, he’d have to be, that was how the rules worked.  It always killed Penny when Eliot got himself into trouble because the boy could make himself look so sad and apologetic when he wanted to. Besides that, Penny just wanted to help him, he just wanted to calm Eliot down and get him to a place where he was comfortable. Maybe that was exactly the release Eliot was looking for? It wouldn’t be the first time he had pushed Penny to punishment.

                Just as Penny was starting to give up the door cracked open. Eliot hesitantly peered inside, not looking like he wanted to come all the way into the room. It was so strange to see him like that. He was always so good at feigning confidence and acting like the world was exactly the way he wanted it to be. This was good, Penny thought, Eliot wasn’t hiding how he felt, he wasn’t wearing his usual mask.

                Stepping over Penny put a hand on Eliot’s shoulder, bringing him the rest of the way inside and closing the door. “It’s alright,” he assured Eliot. “It’s just me, nothing to worry about. Just me.”

                Some of the tension faded from Eliot’s shoulders, but he still looked like he was ready to bolt at any second. “I know it’s just you, I’m just not particularly in the mood to play right now. I’m not sure if you noticed or not, but everything here isn’t exactly like it was in the books.”

                “Yeah, well, we’re not talking about Fillory right now. Or magic. Right now we’re focusing on Eliot, got it?”

                “Penny—“

                “Hush up and don’t argue with me.” Penny was trying to speak in a stern voice, but it didn’t come out exactly right. Normally it was easy to be harsh and terse with people, but Eliot managed to make him want to be a little softer. “You have a warm bath waiting and if you stand here and fight with me then it’s going to get cold. Now, let’s get you undressed, yeah?”

                Eliot swatted at Penny’s hands before Penny could start taking his shirt off. “I can undress myself,” he argued, lower lip sticking out in a pout.

                It wasn’t much, but Penny felt like they were getting somewhere. Eliot’s pitch was slightly higher when he spoke, a good indication that he was starting to slip a little. “No, because you decided to wear something with a lot of buttons. You’ll just frustrate yourself. Now, hold still and let me take care of you, okay, El?”

                With a dramatic sigh Eliot let his hands fall to the side and looked down. “Okay,” he mumbled and scuffed his shoe across the floor. “But I _can_ undress myself. I don’t need to—“

                “Shh, yes I do.”

                Oddly enough, that sated Eliot for the moment. Of course, it would only be a matter of time before he found something else to argue about, but for now Penny was going to enjoy the quiet and finish undressing Eliot.

                “There you go. You are so good, Eliot. So, so good.” He knew what praise did to the boy, he knew how it calmed him and pushed him further and further down into headspace. So, he let the admiration flow freely from his lips while no one else was around. He repeated the words until Eliot’s eyes fluttered closed and he rested his head on Penny’s shoulder. It made undressing him a little harder, but at this point Penny wasn’t about to exchange Eliot’s comfort for his own.

                Penny also didn’t bother with folding Eliot’s clothes or even picking them up off the floor. There would be time for that later. He rubbed Eliot’s back, feeling the boy’s bones jutting dangerously out, like his skin had been stretched too tightly over his skeleton. How long had he been suffering like this?  Penny knew why Eliot hadn’t come to him, he never liked to ask for what he needed. It wasn’t Eliot’s fault that things had gotten so bad, not entirely. Penny should’ve noticed, he should’ve noticed weeks ago.

                “You’re also eating a nice, big dinner tonight. No arguing,” Penny told him, kissing Eliot’s forehead.

                Eliot hesitated again, chewing his lip and looking as though he was thinking about what he wanted to say.  “Cake?” he finally asked, looking up at Penny through his lashes.

                “If you eat dinner we’ll try to find some cake, promise.”

                A small smile tugged at Eliot’s lips. If cake made him smile then Penny would get all the cake that Fillory had to offer. “Thank you.” Eliot tilted his chin down, leaning close to Penny.

                Penny backed off before Eliot got close enough to kiss him. Little forehead kissed were one thing, but there were certain barriers he wouldn’t cross when he was trying to keep Eliot in a little headspace.  “No, you know better. Not while you’re little, okay?”

                “I’m not that little.”

                “You’re pretty little, El. We’ll talk about it later, okay? Right now let’s get you cleaned up. I didn’t spend all that time running you a bath so it could just sit there.”

                Although he looked disappointed, Eliot nodded and took Penny’s hand. He would understand the situation better later, when he was Big Eliot again. It would make more sense to him as to why Penny didn’t want to take advantage of his frail state.  Even if he was a little upset now he would be thankful for it later.

                Penny led Eliot to the bath, helping him in so he didn’t slip and fall. Eliot settled down, able to stretch out his legs and lean back against the marble walls of the tub. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as the warm water washed over his shoulders and he visibly relaxed. One skinny hand came up out of the table, swirling the bubbles around. For a moment Eliot was calm and peaceful, and then he looked up at Penny. He didn’t need to say anything; his words were clear by expression alone. He was asking ‘What do I do now? I don’t remember’.

                Before there was a chance for tears or panic, Penny dug through his bag and pulled out the first toy he found. It was a small yellow boat that floated perfectly in the water. It definitely wasn’t Eliot’s favourite, but it was the quickest thing that Penny could get to.

                Eliot took the boat and examined it for a moment before pushing it under the water, smiling at the bubbles that rose to the surface. He was only entertained for a moment, however, before he looked back at Penny and left the boat discarded on the bottom of the tub. “Crackers?”

                “Crackers?” Penny raised his eyebrow, trying to understand why the fuck Eliot would wanted crackers with his bath.

                “No, not crackers. Crackers.”

 That…didn’t actually clear anything up. Penny looked at Eliot, hoping he could figure out what Crackers meant before the crying started. “Oh, Quackers! Yeah, hold on a second, I’ve got him.” He dug through hi bag before finding a very worn out looking duck buried underneath everything else. It was obvious that Quackers had been loved immensely. Where once he had been bright purple he was now a much more muted colour, even white in some spots where the purple had been loved off completely.

Eliot reached out, making a grabbing motion until Penny handed him the duck. It seemed that was exactly what he needed to calm himself down. Penny leaned against the wall, watching Eliot push the duck through the wall of bubbles and fall easily down further into his little space. He didn’t say anything; he rarely did when he got like this. There was definitely a fantasy story happening in Eliot’s head, but Penny didn’t dare interrupt the play to ask what it was. Eliot was happy playing by himself in the water and Penny was content just to watch for now. He kept an eye on the time and made sure the bath didn’t get too cold. If Penny wasn’t careful Eliot would just play until the water was icy and he had to get out.

After about ten minutes of letting Eliot play Penny sat back up. “Alright, let Quackers rest for a minute, I’ve got to wash your hair.”

Scooting away, Eliot clung tighter to the duck and made a low whining noise. “No, I don’t want you to.”

“Well, El, I have to.”

“No, I don’t like it.”

Penny sighed and rubbed his temple. They had gone through this a dozen times and every time Eliot seemed more and more against having his hair washed. He acted like it was pure torture instead of just a bath. “You’ll like it once your hair is clean.”

“No because of what if you get soap in my eyes?” Eliot whined.

“Have I ever gotten soap in your eyes?”

“You might…”

“El, I promise I’m not going to get soap in your eyes. Now, please, just let me—“

“No! Go away!”

Okay, this definitely wasn’t going to work. Stressed or not he wasn’t going to let Eliot just get away with deciding he was going to act like a brat. Penny sat up a little straighter and looked down at Eliot. “How about you try that again, Eliot? Because it _almost_ sounded like you were yelling at me and I think we both know that that’s not gonna fly. One more time, put the duck down so I can wash your hair.”

Eliot’s lip trembled in response to Penny’s harsh tone and he looked down, struggling with not wanting his hair washed and also not wanting to get yelled at. “But what about if I really don’t want you to?”

This was the hard part. Penny had to figure out if Eliot really just didn’t want to be touched or if he was just being bratty and wanting to play more. It was probably one of the hardest things about when they played like this. “Why don’t you want me to, babe? Is there something wrong?”

Reaching up Eliot pulled at one of his curls and pouted. “It’s all tangled,” he finally admitted in a small voice.

Ah, that was all it was. It was part Eliot being embarrassed by the state of his hair and part Eliot not wanting Penny to brush through the tangles. “I’ll be really gentle, okay? I promise. Come here.”  He managed to coax Eliot closer to him again and sat up on the side of the tub. Eliot wasn’t lying about his hair being a tangled mess and Penny wouldn’t have been shocked to find birds nesting in the curls. Still, he managed a small smile. “Oh, it’s not that bad. You’re just being dramatic. I’ll have it back to normal in no time.”

Eliot whined the entire time Penny washed through his hair. He squeezed his duck and kept his eyes shut tight, his face scrunched up. Usually Eliot was really good at keeping up his appearance, but the stress had definitely taken its toll. When he was frustrated Eliot had a tendency to twist and pull at his hair, causing knots that were damn near impossible to get out. After fifteen minutes, too much conditioner, nearly breaking a comb, and Eliot whimpering, Penny had his hair mostly tangle free. He washed out the remaining soap and tweaked Eliot’s nose.

“See?  That wasn’t the end of the world.”

“You pulled my hair,” Eliot complained, sinking back into the water.

Penny shrugged and gave Eliot a smile. “Yeah, well, you look better now. And I know my little boy likes to look his best. So, say ‘thank you, Penny’ and I’ll get you a towel.”

Eliot paused and tilted his head, looking at Penny and smirking. “Thank you, Penny, and I’ll get you a towel?”

“Brat,” Penny said affectionately as he stood up. He couldn’t be mad, not even a little bit. Eliot was relaxed and comfortable in his headspace. He’d gone back to pushing his duck through what was left of the bubbles, creating intricate stories inside his head that only he would know about. He was just too cute for Penny to even get frustrated with right then. All Penny really wanted to do was wrap him up all nice and warm and cuddle with him until he knew that he was safe enough to sleep. And that was exactly what he planned to do. He grabbed a towel and held out his hand to Eliot. “Come on, that water has to be freezing by now.”

“It’s fine,” Eliot told him. He completely ignored Penny’s outstretched hand and instead continued to focus on playing with Quackers.

The water was definitely freezing, that much was evident by Eliot’s chattering teeth. Even though Eliot didn’t seem too bothered by the cold water Penny knew it wasn’t a good idea to keep him in an icy bath. The moment Eliot stopped playing and realised it wasn’t warm there would most likely be a tantrum thrown. Not only that, but the last thing Penny wanted was for Eliot to get sick or something.

“It’s not fine, El. Listen to me, okay? The bath is over.  You’ve played with Quackers enough. It’s time to—“

“No! We’re just getting to the good part of playing. Go away, I’m not done yet.”

Penny took a deep breath to calm himself down. Eliot really wanted to act up today and Penny might’ve been mad if he didn’t have an idea as to why. He had to remind himself that Eliot probably just wanted to attention after having neglected little space for so long. Still, that excuse was only going to work for so long. “Eliot, do you get to yell at me?”

“You yell at me.”

“When have I yelled at you?”

Eliot pursed his lips and thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Sometimes you do. You yell at me when I don’t do what you want. And right now you’re not doing what I want so that means I can yell at you.”

That was almost a well thought out argument. “Eliot, I try _not_ to yell at you. Because we don’t yell at people to get what we want, right?” He waited for Eliot to agree, but it became very clear very quickly that that wasn’t going to happen. “Okay, also, and most importantly, I’m the adult here. I know what you need and I make sure that you get that. Right now what you need is to get out of the bath.”

“How come?”

“Because the water is cold and it sounds to me like a certain someone is starting to get tired.”

Eliot scoffed and pulled his boat back from the depths of the tub. “Well it’s not me.”

Penny dug through his bag, trying to find the perfect toy to get Eliot out of the bath. Some toys were okay to play with in the bath and some toys didn’t need to be in the water. The little stuffed, white dog wasn’t one of the toys that was bath time approved. “No? Well, I think this little guy is getting kind of sleepy.”

“Fluff! Give him to me!” Eliot demanded. He immediately dropped Quackers and the boat and reached out for the dog.

At least that got his attention. Penny put the dog back in his backpack and grabbed the towel. “You can have him once you’re in your pyjamas in the bed. Understand?”

It worked better than Penny expected. Eliot completely abandoned his game and climbed haphazardly out of the tub, dripping water all across the floor. Penny reached out and took Eliot by the arm, wrapping him up in a large towel and breathing out a sigh of relief. So far they were getting through all of Eliot’s bratty moments without too much trouble. He only hoped that they could keep it up.

“Can I have him now?”

“Not yet. Remember? You’ve got to be in your pyjamas and in bed before you get Fluff, okay?

Eliot pouted but seemed to decide it wasn’t worth fighting over. He held still while Penny dried him off, only complaining when the towel was rubbed in his hair. Still, even that was easy enough to deal with. He was good as Penny helped him get into his pyjamas. Penny was actually a little surprised. Did a stuffed dog really mean that much to Eliot?

Grabbing up his bag he took Eliot’s hand and led him back into the bedroom. “Okay, now, just lay down for a little while and then we’ll get dinner, okay?”

“And cake?”

“If you eat your dinner,” Penny promised him despite knowing that he would give Eliot cake regardless of if all the peas were eaten or not. “Here, here’s your little Fluff.”

Eliot greedily grabbed the stuffed dog and held it close to his chest as though it was the only thing keeping him connected to the world. “Will you stay, Penny?”

“Yeah. I’m not leaving you.” It was a stupid question, but Penny refrained from pointing that out. There was no way he was going to go anywhere while Eliot was still in little space. But, this was no time to mock Eliot’s fear of being abandoned. “Come on, lil’ bit, let’s get you and Fluff all settled down in the bed.”

It was easy enough to life Eliot and seemed better than just having him crawl into the bed. He didn’t weigh much, but his gangly limbs make carrying him a little awkward. But he was still and seemed quite happy with being carried, Eliot nuzzled against Penny’s arm, yawning.

Laying him down in the bed Penny brushed back a wet curl. “Sleepy boy. Alright, get some rest—“

Eliot reached out with one hand and grabbed Penny’s vest, keeping a tight hold of Fluff with the other hand. “Don’t go away?” He looked up, eyes wide and pleading, giving Penny a look that was impossible to say ‘no’ to.

“Alright, alright. Come here.” He lay down, putting his arms around Eliot and bringing him close. It had been so long since he’d held Eliot that he’d almost forgotten how much he loved it. He’d almost forgotten how perfectly Eliot fit beside him and how small Eliot was when he was going to sleep.

Fillory could wait. Magic could wait. The world wasn’t going to end because Eliot took a nap and ate some dinner. If anything, the world would be a better place with a well-rested and relaxed king. At the very least, Eliot would be better for it and, to Penny, that was the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate ending based on the question: What would have happened had Eliot not shown up?

Penny showed back up about ten minutes early, because being late would’ve been worse. He had a backpack full of things from Brakebills slung over his shoulder and was masking an expression of concern. He’d never seen Eliot get quite this bad before. Sure, Eliot had gotten stressed out plenty of times and Penny had to take him in hand and guide him back to the world, but he had never suffered quite like this. He had never had this many responsibilities. Hell, he was only twenty-four, no one at that age could run a kingdom without some stress.

                With time to spare Penny made his way into the bathroom to get things set up. It was so much nicer than the bathroom at Brakebills and they wouldn’t have to worry about any unpleasant interruptions. They had complete privacy from the world here, which was exactly what they needed. The tub was much larger than the one they were used to and Eliot would probably be able to stretch his legs out and not be cramped and uncomfortable. He filled the bath, adding enough bubbles to cover the top of the water, and checked the temperature. The last thing he wanted was to scald or freeze Eliot while he was trying to relax him.

                Drying off his hands Penny went back to the bedroom and expected to fin Eliot there. The room was still silent and empty and Penny felt his heart skip a beat. If Eliot didn’t show up then he’d be in trouble, he’d have to be, that was how the rules worked.  It always killed Penny when Eliot got himself into trouble because the boy could make himself look so sad and apologetic when he wanted to. Besides that, Penny just wanted to help him, he just wanted to calm Eliot down and get him to a place where he was comfortable. Maybe that was exactly the release Eliot was looking for? It wouldn’t be the first time he had pushed Penny to punishment.

He waited, watching the time tick past, his anxiety growing. It was possible that something had happened, that Eliot had gotten caught up in a business affair that needed dealing with. Another possibility was that he was hurt somewhere or drowning alone in his stress. The logical and most likely reason for Eliot’s absence was that he had decided he wasn’t going to show up at all, but Penny’s worry outweighed his ability to listen to logic.

Penny pushed himself up off the bed and went wandering through the castle. He didn’t know the layout very well, this wasn’t a place he’d spent much time. If Eliot wanted to hide it would’ve been easy enough. Penny found himself lost and turned around several times, having to get directions from staff members and somehow he kept finding himself in the kitchen. Finally, he gave up and asked a member of the castle staff about Eliot’s whereabouts and was led through the twisting corridors and up a spiral staircase.

Thanking the staff member Penny went inside the round room, finding Eliot sitting at a table, his head resting on his arms. For a moment Penny thought Eliot was sleeping, but as he walked over he realised that Eliot’s gaze was fixed on the window and he was just ignoring Penny’s presence.

“Hey,” Penny began, trying to get Eliot to look at him. “You okay?”

“Fine.” It didn’t even seem like Eliot’s lips moved when he spoke. He was ignoring Penny on a professional level.

Pulling out a chair Penny sat down; wanting to rub Eliot’s back but deciding to hold off on touching him. If something had happened then he didn’t want to make it worse by overwhelming Eliot. “We had an appointment. You kind of missed it. Did you get busy or—“

“No, I didn’t want to come.” Eliot turned his head, facing away from Penny to look out the other window. He was talking into his arm, making his words mumbled and difficult to understand.

Oh, so all this was completely deliberate? Penny didn’t want to overstep and demand anything of Eliot. He didn’t want Eliot to feel like he didn’t have any choice, but he did want at least a little respect. “So, instead of telling me you decided to just…make me wait? That wasn’t good, Eliot,” Penny told him, crossing his arms over his chest.

Eliot twitched slightly before he shrugged. “I didn’t want to.”

“Okay, do you want to tell me _why_ you decided not to come?”

“Not really.”

There were a couple of small things that Penny noticed that were important to him. The first being Eliot’s attitude towards the whole situation. He was pretending not to care, but refused to look directly at Penny and tell him as much. The second thing was that Eliot was still there. He wasn’t getting up and leaving, declaring that he wanted to be left alone and he wasn’t outright kicking Penny out.  He wanted Penny there, he was just refusing to admit it. So, Penny grabbed a chair and put it in front of the door, since that was the only part of the room without windows.

“Okay, if you don’t want to talk to me then you can sit over here and stare at the wall until you feel like talking.”

Lifting his head Eliot gave Penny a baffled look, his eyes darting over to the chair. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No. You made me sit and wait on you and now you have to wait.”

“How long?”

“That’s up to you. Could be a few minutes, could be a few hours. It all depends on how long it takes you to decide that you wanna tell me what’s going on in your head.” Penny motioned towards the chair, urging Eliot to move.

Eliot stared for a second longer, clearly trying to figure out how he had managed to get himself in this situation. “If you’re angry with me then can’t you just, I don’t know, spank me and get it over with?”

Penny shook his head, giving Eliot a small smile. “No, I think you’d enjoy that too much. Now, come on, if I have to move you then you’re going to be sitting there for a while no matter what you decide.”

For a moment Eliot just looked at Penny as though hoping to get a last minute reprieve. When it was clear that wasn’t coming, he hunched his shoulders and moved, sliding down into the other chair and propping one foot up on the wall.

This was good, Penny thought to himself, and it was almost too easy. He didn’t want to have to use a punishment to get Eliot down into little space, but he would if that was what it took. Still, he was shocked at how little Eliot had argued. Usually he would throw a fit over the very idea of getting punished and would rant and whine long past a point of it being cute or fun. Not that Penny was complaining about how little Eliot was fighting, but it worried him a little. He wondered if Eliot really did just need a little nudge to get him into the proper headspace and he was concerned about where Eliot’s mind was at.

Penny pushed Eliot’s leg off the wall, positioning him upright in the chair. “You know how to sit, El.” Cautiously, he reached out and brushed a stray curl behind Eliot’s ear. When Eliot didn’t jerk away Penny continued petting his hair, trying to be comforting. “This only lasts as long as you let it.”

Eliot leaned into Penny’s hand, closing his eyes and nodding to signal that he understood. He whined when Penny took his hand away.  As much as Penny wanted to stand there and comfort Eliot this was still a punishment and he needed to give Eliot the space to think and figure what he was going to do. Penny knew from experience that there was no telling how long it would take before Eliot decided to talk to him. It could be just a few minutes or they could be sitting in this room for hours. It all depended on Eliot.

“This is boring,” Eliot declared after a few minutes of looking at the wall.

Penny had returned to his seat, his feet propped up on the table. “That’s the point, El.” It was boring, for both of them. Penny didn’t have anything to entertain himself with and all he could do was watch Eliot watch the wall. He had to remind himself that he was doing this for Eliot’s sake.

Eliot shifted and sighed. He turned back to see if Penny was still watching him then looked down at his lap. “What if I said I was sorry?”

“That would be a good start.” Eliot had only been in the corner for fifteen minutes, this had to be a new record. “Do you wanna tell me what you’re sorry for?”

Shifting again, Eliot made a low whining noise. “No…”

“Then you can stay over there until you do.”

There was another low whine of complaint and Eliot went quiet for a few more minutes. Then the kicking started. It was soft at first, just Eliot scrubbing the toe of his shoe against the door and Penny ignored it. Then it got louder, turning into bangs as Eliot kicked the bottom of the door out of boredom and frustration.

Penny tried to disregard Eliot’s mini tantrum. Clearly his boy was looking for attention and Penny wanted to give it to him as soon as he apologised. He didn’t want to have to give him negative reinforcement, but Eliot was practically begging for it. Penny pushed himself out of his chair and walked over, putting his hands on Eliot’s leg. “You kick that door one more time and I will put you over my lap. Then you can sit in that chair for as long as _I_ decide and you can sit there with a sore ass. Is that what you want?”

Eliot worried his lower lip and shook his head. “I’m bored, Penny. This is boring.”

“I know it is. And I know how much you hate being bored. But, Eliot, I’m not the one making you sit here. You are. You can come out anytime you want, all you’ve to do is talk to me.”

“Are you mad?” Eliot asked, his pitch rising slightly.

This was exactly why Penny hated using any kind of punishment to get Eliot into Little Space.  He got scared and Penny always worried that he couldn’t give Eliot enough love and comfort after a punishment. “No, no I’m not mad,” Penny reassured him, kneeling down beside the chair. “I just want to know why. You…” he paused, as though worried for a moment that someone would overhear, “you scared me, El.”

“I scared you? How?”

“I didn’t know where you were. If you don’t want to play that’s fine but you’ve got to tell me, El. I didn’t know if you were just busy or if you’d gotten hurt or what happened. Yeah, you scared me. That’s why you’re sitting in that chair right now.”

Eliot was quiet for a few minutes, mulling over this information and looking absolutely baffled by it. Finally, he reached down and took Penny’s hand, squeezing two of Penny’s fingers. “Can we go somewhere else? I don’t think I like this room very much right now.”

“If we leave are you going to tell me why you didn’t show up earlier?”

“…Yes.”

Penny pulled Eliot up from the chair and walked with him through the halls. Eliot knew his way around the castle so Penny let him lead the way, still keeping a tight hold on Eliot’s hand. It didn’t seem like Eliot was going to run off now, he seemed much more relaxed than when Penny found him. Penny squeezed Eliot’s hand, trying to give him silent reassurance as they made their way back to the bedroom.

“Okay, you wanna lie down and—I guess so.”

Immediately when they got to the bedroom Eliot climbed into his bed, hiding himself in a nest of blankets. He curled up into a position that made him impossibly small.

The mattress dipped with Penny’s weight and he reached over, pulling back a corner of the duvet. “No, we’re not hiding right now, remember?”

“I remember…I can talk from under here.”

“Here, how about you put your head on my lap, okay?” Normally Eliot liked that, it calmed him down even when he wasn’t in Little Space. He always liked having his hair played with.

Eliot shook his head and pulled himself tighter into a ball. “No, thank you.”

Okay, if Eliot didn’t want physical comfort then Penny could hold back on that for a while. He was still trying not to push his boy too hard and give him a little leeway with making decisions. “Okay, that’s alright. You can stay under your blanket right now. But, you do need to tell my why you didn’t meet me earlier. If you don’t want to play, that’s fine. But you’ve got to tell me these things, El.”

The blanket mound shifted and Eliot mumbled something completely unintelligible, causing Penny to have to ask Eliot to repeat himself. “I said I wanted to,” Eliot mumbled, sounding like he was chewing on the blanket. “But I thought…maybe…never mind.”

“No, Eliot, no ‘never mind’. Tell me or, well, I’m pretty sure there’s a chair and a corner in here too. And you can’t take your blanket to the corner with you.”

That definitely got Eliot’s attention. He stilled and then took a deep breath. “I thought that what if I forgot how to do it…be little, I mean. I thought you’d get frustrated and leave.”

Penny wasn’t overly surprised by this. It made sense. In Eliot’s mind it was better for Penny to leave because he purposely screwed up than for Penny to leave because Eliot couldn’t do something right. It was logical but completely and totally stupid. “Well, I wouldn’t leave you just because you couldn’t get into Little Space, El.  It doesn’t matter if you’re Little or Big or whatever, what matters is that you needed me. I’m not going anywhere, okay? Not while you need me.”

“You did…”

With two words Eliot had made Penny’s stomach drop and it felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest.  Because, well, Eliot was right. Penny hadn’t been there, he hadn’t been around, and that wasn’t entirely his fault. Eliot had to know that… There was so much going on that Penny hadn’t had the time, he hadn’t been able to make the time. He had left and Eliot had suffered for it. “I know…I know I did. I didn’t realise you needed me until it was too late. I should’ve been here sooner. But…I’m here now, if you’ll let me be.”

It was quiet and Penny held his breath, waiting for Eliot to say something, anything. Finally, after seconds that felt like hours, Eliot crawled out from under the blanket. His hair was frizzy and he stared at Penny, bemused. “…I broke a rule.” He paused, knitting his eyebrows. “Are you mad?”

“No, god no, I’m not mad. You got punished and all of that’s over.” Penny grabbed his backpack off the floor, digging through it. “Although, you did miss having a nice bath because of it.”

“Can you make another bath?”

Eliot was looking up at Penny, eyes wide and pleading. That look was hard to say no to. “How about you lay down and rest for a little while first, okay? I brought your pyjamas and a little surprise for you.”

“What kind of a surprise?”

“Eliot, it’s not a surprise if I tell you. Here, let’s get your pyjamas on and I’ll show you.” He leaned down, kissing Eliot a kiss on the forehead.

Eliot let Penny pull him upright and sat still while Penny worked on getting him out of his overly complicated outfit. There were way too many buttons and Penny seriously wondered what went through Eliot’s mind when he got dressed in the morning. Eliot didn’t complain even as Penny helped him into his pyjamas, he just held onto Penny’s neck, unnervingly  quiet.

“Penny?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m…” Eliot paused again, unsure of himself. “I don’t know what to do…”

Penny laid Eliot back down in the bed, tucking him in. “That’s okay. You don’t…have to know. That’s why I’m here. Now, I think I’ve got something that’s gonna make it a little easier on you.” From his bag he retrieved a small, white, plush puppy. The stuffing in the dog was lumpy in places and some bits of his fur had been loved off, making him bare in spots.

Eliot’s eyes lit up and he greedily held out his hands, making a grabbing motions. “Fluff? Can I have him? Penny, can I?”

“I didn’t bring him just so you can look at him. Here, take your dog.”

For the first time all day Eliot actually looked happy. He grinned, clinging tight to the puppy. ”Thank you, Daddy. Will you stay with me and Fluff? You can cuddle up with us if you want.”

There was absolutely no way Penny could say no. Eliot called him ‘Daddy’ and that almost never happened. “Alright, alright. Come here.” He lay down, putting his arms around Eliot and bringing him close. It had been so long since he’d held Eliot that he’d almost forgotten how much he loved it. He’d almost forgotten how perfectly Eliot fit beside him and how small Eliot was when he was going to sleep.

Fillory could wait. Magic could wait. The world wasn’t going to end because Eliot took a nap and ate some dinner. If anything, the world would be a better place with a well-rested and relaxed king. At the very least, Eliot would be better for it and, to Penny, that was the world.


End file.
